Butterflies in my Stomach
by Falcon226
Summary: Cori. A crush like this is nothing to sneeze at. Tori's not sure why she likes Cat, but she does. And she can't be certain the feelings are mutual.
1. The Invitation

A/N Okay, so this almost certainly will not be as long as my Jade/Cat story (which will not get a sequel, sorry). This pairing needs more love. I think this will be a three-parter, but I don't quite know how it goes. My plotting is very loose.

* * *

There's something beautiful in her face when she smiles. And I feel all weird and especially awkward, because Trina's always telling me that girls who like girls are either trying to impress a guy or piss him off. But Cat's not with anyone, and I haven't had a boyfriend since that one unfortunate time at band camp... which I did not go to band for. There was a choir program. Don't judge me, all right?

I didn't even think I had any sort of inclination towards the same sex until she came along, and all I can think of are vibrant red hair and a _dynamite _body. I can't even believe I used the word "dynamite". That sure blew up in my face.

Let's not discuss my proclivity to make bad puns.

I heard that she likes girls once in the bathroom. A lot of girls talk in the bathroom and seem to think that just because boys aren't around, they can say whatever they like. Not that the information was unwelcome... Au contraire, I couldn't have heard more thrillingly terrifying news. What if she _isn't_ actually a lesbian and I come on to her sort of subtly. And then what if she freaks out and never wants to talk to me again? I'd probably curl up on my bed and stay under the covers for a week if that happened.

So, according to Ditz and Ditzier in that bathroom, Cat's parents caught her making out with a chick in their basement and flipped out. Well, I can understand the flipping out part. If it's true. I'm so scared that somebody will figure out that I like a girl. I'm not so sure if attraction extends to more girls, or maybe she's just something special. I haven't been able to think much of any guy since this crush started.

She's smiling at me. We're at lunch, and there's this dreamy expression in her eyes, but she's definitely looking at me. My chest feels tight and I'm now having a very difficult time trying to get some water down my throat, since everything's sort of constricted.

Andre says something funny- or at least, that's what I assume- and Cat glances over at him to laugh. I just want to reach over and brush that hair that fell from behind her ear. The flower in her hair does little to keep stray strands from occasionally breezing in her face.

"What're you looking at, Tori?" Robbie asks me, like out of the blue.

Well, I'm not about to tell him that my eyes are trained on a certain Cat Valentine. I panic. "Oh, nothing! Just, the, erm, bush over there. I'm so bushed that I sort of, uh, sympathize with it." There is no way in hell that I just said that. See what I mean about bad puns? I'm not even sure exactly what 'bushed' means!

"Okay. That makes sense," he says, even though I'm sure that he does not believe me for a minute.

After lunch, I've kind of forgotten to think about Cat because I have an enormous math test to worry about. Hey, just because I have this monstrous crush on the girl doesn't mean that I turn into a zombie when she's not around. I do have a life... but she keeps invading it at the worst possible moments.

Like now! I'm trying to keep track of the law of cosines as applied to a triangle, but she pops up beside me and scares the bejeezus out of me. I completely forget about mathematics and my attention is immediately trained on her... after I freak out.

"Hi, Tori!"

"Omigod! Cat, where'd you come from?"

She shrugs and takes my math book from me. "Oo, this looks hard. Last year I had so much trouble with this rule..."

"You're in _advanced math_?" I ask, a little surprised.

"Mm-hm," she nods, completely shrugging off the fact that she is more intelligent than I gave her credit for. "So Tori, I was wondering... would you want to hang out tonight?"

"Yeah, sure. I don't think I'm busy," I say, trying to stay casual. "What were you thinking of doing?"

She flips through my math book and replies, "Oh, I don't know. Would you like to come over and maybe bake or watch some movies? Or both!"

"It _is _a Friday," I add, trying desperately not to think of what I would like to do during a movie. "Sure, I'll bring some sprinkles when I come. Trina went through a phase where she wanted to be a master pastry chef. Needless to say, that lasted all of three days, and we still have all of the supplies."

One of those smiles lights up Cat's face, and she starts laughing. It's infectious, so I even join in for a second. We stop nearly simultaneously. Still smiling, she flips my math book to the inside front cover and scribbles in the spot where I was supposed to but never did write, "Issued to Victoria Vega".

"Awesome. Here's my phone number! Call me before you leave your house, whenever that is. I'll probably be done with my homework at four-thirty, five-ish, so call after that."

She hands me back my textbook and skips off to... I actually have no idea where she's going.

Exhaling a breath I don't remember taking, I look down at my book. Cat being herself, she had doodled little hearts around her name and phone number. In addition, the C in "Cat" sported pointy kitty ears. It's so cute, but so very out of place in a math book. Now... what was I doing...?

The two minute bell rings. Fuck! I didn't finish learning that damn rule! But I got a phone number... But I'll fail my math test!

* * *

I'm sitting on my couch staring at the obnoxious rainbow error channel on the television. I didn't even know TVs still had such a messed up channel after all these years.

"Tori, get off the couch. I want to take a nap," Trina demands.

"No," I say grumpily. "You can sleep in your room."

"But the couch is more comfortable..."

"But the only TV is in here!"

Trina grabs me by the shoulders from behind and shakes me against the couch. "_Tori..._" she whines, drawing out that "i" sound that's all the more annoying when she wants something. "You're not even watching anything good."

"Fine! I give up!" So much for distracting myself from the lack of time passage until four-thirty. It's still four and I'm dying to call Cat. I go into the kitchen and sit at the countertop without turning the lights on.

I hear this buzzing noise five or ten minutes later. "Tori! Get your fucking phone!"

Could it be...? I hop off of the stool and nearly knock it over in the dark. My toe manages to get injured in the process of getting my cell, so I favor one leg for all of the eight feet into the living room.

My phone is still vibrating on the table near the couch when I make it there. "Hello?" I answer after picking up the phone hastily.

"Tori! Hi! It's Cat!"

A smile creeps its way onto my face. "Oh, hi!"

"Who is that, a boy?" Trina asks me sleepily.

"No, it's Cat," I tell my sister, covering the phone with my hand.

"Then get out of the living room! I'm trying to get some beauty rest here!" Trina screams at me. I'm certain she would have ordered me out of the room if it was a boy.

I hear Cat over the phone as I'm scrambling up the stairs. "Who's screaming?"

"Trina. Sorry. She always does this. So, uh, what were you saying?"

"Um, I finished my homework, so you can just come whenever..."

In my room by now, I sit on my bed. "Could you give me directions?"

"Easily. I know where you live."

"That's not creepy at all, Cat."

She giggles. "Right, right. So here's how to get there..." Her directions are a tad, shall I say, unique. I don't think anybody else gives directions while interspersing them with anecdotes. The way is clear enough in the end. "- And then you make a right. But don't make a left or you'll pass the haunted house. That's it. Kay, bye!" She hangs up before I can say anything else.

I stare at the phone for a moment after she hangs up. Now that the instructions are still kind of fresh in my head, I've got to go.

"Trina," I call out from the top of the stairs. "I'll pay you five bucks to drive me to Cat's."

"Thirty bucks," she says.

"Five."

"Twenty."

"Five."

"...All right, fine. Let's go."


	2. The Movie

A/N Mm, I think Cat's going to come out a little different than usual...

* * *

"Where's my five bucks?" Trina orders me to answer.

"Uh..." I hadn't thought that far. "I owe you?"

"I'm just going to have to turn around this car so you can get your money and _then_ you can do whatever with your friend."

I raise an eyebrow. "Trina, you do realize that is a huge waste of gas, and you're stuck in this car for longer than just one round trip?"

"That is true," Trina admits. "Okay. You owe me, and I'm not driving you to school on Monday until you pay me."

I unbuckle my seatbelt and reach for the door handle. "That's fair. Thanks, sis. I'll see if Cat's mom can give me a ride home?"

"Terrific. Now get out of my car."

I do so and tentatively walk up to Cat's door. The house is pretty big, but not enormous, so I'm not so intimidated. I can't find the doorbell anywhere, so I settle for knocking.

The door opens almost immediately. "Hi, Tori!" The bubbly girl pulls me into a hug before I can do anything about it. Not that I disapprove.

"Ah! Cat! Lungs!"

She loosens her encirclement around me only slightly. "Oh, sorry." Then she squeezes again for effect. "I'm so glad you actually came."

"What? I said I would, didn't I?"

Cat pulls away and pouts. "That's not always how it goes, you know. Some people are mean."

"And by some people...?"

"Middle school. You wouldn't know them." Her face blanches. "It was not a fun school."

"I see." I don't know what else to say.

The silence is a little awkward. "Bake?"

"Sure?" I follow her to her kitchen. "Where're your parents?"

She moves to the refrigerator to get some eggs. "Out. They have date night once a month. So's my brother. But I don't think his date is as nice..."

"I'm not so sure what you mean by that."

"He's very adventurous. Today he and his girlfriend are going to go skydiving naked. Or was it cow-tipping...?"

I take the eggs from her and weigh them in my hands while she gets the rest of the supplies. "There's cows around here?"

"I don't know; don't ask me!" she says, more defensively than necessary.

After she finishes getting the supplies together, I break the silence. "So, what are we making?"

"Brownies. Are you allergic to nuts?"

"No."

"Good. I probably would have put in nuts either way, though. Peanuts are really, really good."

"I'd have to agree," I say, suppressing a smile.

We make the brownie batter and end up splattering the kitchen with chocolatey goo after an electric mixer malfunction. I laugh as I grab a hunk of paper towels to clean it all up.

She's staring at one wall and asks me in a grave tone, "Do you think it would still taste good if I lick it off the walls?"

I warn, "Cat... You do realize that the batter has eggs. And your walls probably aren't very clean."

Nodding thoughtfully, she seems to seriously consider acting on her idea. I swat her shoulder and she has this sad puppy expression on her face as she turns away from the wall. No way am I letting her get some sort of chocolate egg wall disease.

We pour the batter messily into the tray and shove the whole damn thing in the oven. Cat sets a timer and drags me to the couch in the den. Before I can sit down, she sticks out her index finger and swabs it on my cheek before putting it in her mouth. "You had some chocolate on your face," she says, sending me this look that I could swear is sultry.

"So, what are we watching?" I ask upon sitting down.

She pulls a DVD case out of nowhere. "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist."

"I've actually never seen that. Is it good?"

There's a sweet and currently-bouncing Cat in front of me. "Oh, yes! It's so cute. Now lemme put this in..." She pops opens the case and drops the DVD. Looking slightly embarrassed, she goes to put the movie in the player before joining me on the couch.

She's ridiculously close next to me. Her hand is on my knee, and I could swear she was leaning her head into my neck. It's getting to me. "Mm, Cat...?" I say.

Without moving from her position (it must be comfortable), she murmurs, "Hm?"

"You're kind of, you know, on me. D-do you do this with all of your friends?"

"Nope."

I'm not sure what answer I was expecting from her. "Okay."

"You're shoulder's warm," she says, as if that helps.

I can't think of anything to say to that, so I just try to watch the movie. This gets progressively more difficult as she shifts her position. Often. By the time Nick and Norah are in Jessie, Cat's head is on my lap.

"Is my lap warm too?" I ask before I can stop myself.

"Very," she says, offering a lopsided smile.

My body can't just enjoy the moment in peace, and it has decided to shudder lightly. "Sorry."

"Mm, it's okay," Cat replies, not even watching the movie anymore. Her hand reaches up and takes a lock of hair. "You have such pretty hair, Tori."

"Um, thanks," I say, trying not to move too much.

I grow continually more uncomfortable as Cat continues to switch to more and more strange positions. Eventually, she's on my lap again... sitting on me.

"Are you wearing a different lipgloss than normal, Tori?"

"No..."

"Oh. Well, maybe it's 'cause we've never been this close."

"Yeah." Is she teasing me?

I'm trying to stare straight ahead without looking at her pale pink lips. Apparently, she's got the same idea (or is trying to lure me into a trap), since she suddenly leans in and presses her lips on mine. My eyes widen and she does not pull away until I do.

Cat reaches out a hand to play with my hair again. "I liked that."

I'm about to say something, but then the timer goes off. She hops jubilantly off of my lap and runs to the kitchen shouting about brownies. I grab the remote and pause the movie (although I have no idea what's going on anymore) before following her.

"Did you just kiss me?" I ask dumbly.

"I touched my lips to your lips. I think that's a kiss. It- it was my first..." She trails off and shoves on some oven mitts.

"Really?"

She looks a little flustered as she opens the oven door. "If you don't want it to be a kiss, it doesn't have to be."

I knit my eyebrows together and lean on her counter. "No, I do want it to be. I've had this crush on you for the past few weeks and I thought it was never ever going to happen."

After setting the brownie tray down on the stove top, Cat looks at me with renewed hope. "I thought you could never like me because of Beck. Or Andre. Or Robbie. Or even Jade. Like, whenever I thought about it, I was the least likely person to have a chance."

"I think I had a crush on Beck for a week, but Andre's just a friend. Jade's... No. No no no. Same with Robbie. _No._"

I think she's about to blow up with joy or something. "That's the greatest news I've heard in... in forever! Kiss me again!"

"Not with those oven mitts," I say, pointing at the charred and dirty mitts on her hands.


	3. The Resolution

A/N Gah, I should probably put a disclaimer D: I do not own _Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist_ or The Beatles. And clearly, the Victorious characters are not mine. The situations are from my imagination.

* * *

As we decorate the brownies with the sprinkles I brought and some ridiculously thick and sugary chocolate frosting Cat had in her cupboard, we are kind of in our own worlds. Cat's humming something, and I can't really figure out what it is until she launches into the chorus.

"_I want to hold your hand... And when I touch you I feel happy inside. It's such a feeling that my love I can't hide... I can't hide... I can't hide..._"

As she trails off into humming, I can't help but miss the actual sound of her (rather underrated) voice. "Beatles?"

Cat tips her head up from her half of the brownies. "What?" She recoils before calming herself down. "Oh, yeah. Just was thinking about the movie."

"Eh?"

"Nick and Norah's. There's this really great scene. Thom with an 'h' tells Nick all about how brilliant The Beatles really are, since one of their very first hits was just about, you know, that feeling you get when you hold someone's hand."

I chew my lip over before asking, "Is that how you feel?"

"Sorta. When I touch you, I get these fluttery little butterflies in my stomach, but I thought I would only be able to hold your hand as a friend until tonight. So it was like a guilty crush. Like, craving the weird sensation, even though a good half of me expected never for it to become anything." She offers something of a pained smile, but she's clenching the knife in her hand tightly.

"I don't know if I'd explain it quite like that, but I guess I felt something like that too," I tell her, eyeing the knife in her hand. "I like you a lot. I'm not sure why or how, 'cause I'm pretty sure I've only ever liked guys, but yeah. It's weird."

"No it's not," she says, setting the knife down. I release a breath now that the danger has passed. "Do you really have to check in someone's pants to know whether or not you're allowed to like someone? I've never understood that concept."

"So you're... a lesbian?"

"Labels are unimportant. If you eat and enjoy fish until someone tells you it's a hot dog, why should that diminish your enjoyment?"

I make a face. "You're either trying too hard with these analogies or it's a completely happy accident."

She raises an eyebrow. "You tell me."

So she is sharper than most people give her credit for. "All right. I'm done decorating these."

"I guess I'm done," she says, scrutinizing her handiwork. "If there was just a little more frosting on this corner-"

"Cat, it's good. We're going to eat them anyway."

"Okay." She reaches over and grabs a brownie from my batch. "Want to finish the movie?"

"We don't _have_ to watch it, you know." I smirk and take a brownie from her side.

She raises the brownie in her hand. "But can we please eat these first, Tori? They don't look inedible at all!"

"Well, now that we have them..."

"Yay!" She turns herself around and hops up on the non-burner part of the kitchen's center island.

I sit in a nearby stool, since I'm kind of wary of sitting near places that can burn by arse. The time passes, and it seems like neither of us can think of what to say. We each have about three brownies before the conversation moves anywhere.

"Cat, do you play dumb?"

"What?" She furrows her eyebrows in frustration, as it looks like she was just about to take a good bite of brownie.

"You always act so... interesting. And half the time you seem to not know what's going on."

She averts her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Please? I swear to be your confidante. It can't be healthy to bottle things up."

Sighing, she says, "I used to get teased in elementary and middle school for liking school. When people don't take me so seriously, I'm, um, not really a threat."

I reach over and cover her hand with mine. "You don't have to play dumb around me. I like that you know stuff I don't. But... the eccentric behavior?"

Her head turns back to face mine. "Not sure. Kind of stemmed from not sounding smart. Nobody expects the weird girl to know much besides random trivia. And then that just became me."

"So..."

Cat smirks and toys with my fingers. "It does come up with some upsides. I can get away with saying and doing some strange things that you couldn't."

"Oh, I could believe that."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

She can't help it anymore, can she? I stand up and move towards her. "Can I kiss you again?"

"'May'."

"It's April."

Blushing, she informs me, "I'm sure that you have the ability kiss me. But... um... It's correct to use 'May I'."

"Okay, fine. _May I _kiss you?"

"Yes, you may kiss me."

I examine our positions and determine that there's something wrong. "Uh, I have a few inches on you, but your face is still a little too high for me to reach with my head."

"Oh." Cat frowns and pushes off of the island. "There."

I put my hands on her waist and shift awkwardly towards her. "So, uh, here goes?" I close my eyes and move my head. Bad idea.

"Ow! My nose!"

"Sorry!" I keep my eyes open this time and give her a quick apologetic peck on the nose before moving to her lips. Obviously, she tastes like a very chocolatey brownie. She wasn't lying about earlier having her first kiss, I can tell. Her lips are a tad reluctant to move along mine. I nudge her along by pushing her puzzled lips open with my tongue and touching it to hers.

Suddenly, she grows quite daring and essentially rams her tongue in my mouth before trying to stick it up between my upper lip and teeth or something. I pull back. "Whoa, what're you doing?"

She pouts. "It worked in the book... the first time..."

"Okay, what book are you talking about?"

"Um, the book... for Nick and Norah... When Tris showed Norah how to do some things in the-"

My eyes widen. "_Tris _and_ Norah_? I didn't get to watch much of the movie, but I'm pretty sure Tris was a heinous bitch."

"You're going to read the book. It'll all make sense. And _then_ we can try the tongue thing!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I just want you kissing me, smart girl."

"...Is that supposed to be an insult?"

In response, I laugh.

"Tori!"

I can't stop, her expression is so amusingly bewildered. I feel so bad, but I just can't quit laughing!

"Tori, stop it!" She grabs me by the shoulders and starts shaking me.

I hack up a lung trying to calm myself down. "Oh god, I'm s-sorry, Cat. I just... the look on your face was so very cute."

"And sometimes I wonder why I let you handcuff me to a railing!"

"Don't wonder. I'm really sorry. It was horrible of me to laugh." Maintaining eye contact, I reach up and pull her hands off of my shoulders and take them in my own. "We'll finish the movie with browines, you can give me the book, and we'll bring the leftover brownies to school tomorrow. Game plan?"

"As long as nobody laughs at me," she says, moving her hands side to side, therefore making mine do the same. "I'm much more confident about this in private."

"We don't have to be all big and gay about it. If someone asks, sure, I guess I'll tell them, 'yeah, this is my girlfriend'. If not, that's okay too."

She smiles at me. "It's like Christmas when I'm with you, without the presents, reindeer, or awkward nativity scenes on my front lawn."

"Huh?"

"Last year my brother tye-dyed Mary's figure. And gave one of the wise men dreadlocks."

"I see." A short moment passes.

She glances at the tray of brownies. "Can we follow through on that game plan now?"

* * *

Everybody should read the book version of _Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist_ by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. The book's version of Nick is clearly more awesome than the awkwardly cute Michael Cera. I like movie Norah better (Kat Dennings is effing amazing), but book Norah's still cool. If you like the movie, the book's got a different plot, so go find it. I actually have drawn a lot of writing inspiration from the book for both of my Victorious fics.

Mm, I think this story is done, but I'm no good at endings. If it doesn't feel done to you, please tell me.


End file.
